Arizona State Museum

Overview

The Arizona State Museum is the oldest and largest anthropology museum in the Southwest, established in 1893. Its collections are world renowned in the study and research of the indigenous peoples and lands of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Its research library holds over 50,000 specialized titles in these subject areas, while its archives houses the papers and field notes of such Southwestern anthropologist legends as Emil Haury, Grenville Goodwin, Edward and Rosamond Spicer, and Clara Lee Tanner.

The museum's curators safeguard the world's largest whole-vessel collection of Southwest Indian pottery, designated as a Save America's Treasures, a White House preservation initiative. Other unique collections include the largest collection of Casa Grandes pottery, one of the largest collections of Seri material in the US and over 500 Mexican folk masks from the renowned Cordry Collection.

The museum serves as the state's official archaeological repository, housing over 150,000 catalogued artifacts and over 250,000 photographs and prints, making it the largest non-federal repository in the country, second only to the Smithsonian Institution. Additionally, museum staff administers the state's Antiquities Act and issue permits for archaeological projects and surveys across the state. These archaeological reports are available in the research library and searchable through the online catalog located at http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/collections/library-58